Gavin Theory's Metal-Legged Mix

Gavin Theory has been dropping futurist Hip Hop for a number of years. The Emcee/Producer relocated from Wisconsin to Portland, OR, in 2008, along with emcee Lucas Dix to make a bigger name for their group Hives Inquiry Squad. Over the past two years, the duo have built a solid reputation and fanbase around their high energy show, which owes as much to classic hip hop as it does to a number of electronic music styles.

A few weeks ago Gavin released a new mix to preview unreleased tracks from their upcoming full-length "Edifice", as well as Lucas' new project with DJ Great Mundane, The Jellyfish Brigade. The continuous mix also includes tracks from other well respected Northwest artists like Gepetto, Abadawn, Sleep (of Oldominion and The Chicharones), Cloudy October and Mic Crenshaw, as well as some of his favorite selections from major artists like Aesop Rock and Atmosphere.

The new Hives tracks push their style ahead with a mashup of lyrical styles and heavy eclectic production that is going to destroy some fat subs. The Jellyfish Brigade tracks are also real thick, and its great to hear Lucas get the opportunity to expand across a whole track with his multitextured vocal styles.

The mix is available for free at the Hives Inquiry Bandcamp page, in 4 pieces. Gavin recommends you burn a disc to play with no "gaps" to get the full experience. However you decide to ingest it, this plate is full of banger indie rap, sure to please the palette of any and all heads with good taste.

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New Music Review - Saudade - Lookouts' Journal LP

I wrote this review for Oregon Music News, which is where it originally appeared.



Saudade is an untranslatable Portuguese word for an irreconcilable longing.

Saudade is also the musical conversation between Jason Gray and Chris Cantino, two artists who met working in a residential psychiatric treatment facility.

They come from different musical backgrounds, and opposite sides of the country, but working together they found a common voice in tonal dialogue. They have been playing shows in Portland since 2007, and their 2008 downloadable LP The Hooded Ones (also released on the cassette-only label Peasant Magik) was well received and made a few top-ten lists in the noise/ambient blog world.

Their newest effort, Lookouts’ Journal, is available this week from Arena Rock Recording Co.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

New Music Review - Adam Kadmon - Teslaphonics LP

Adam Kadmon makes rap music that draws from a multitude of sources and clearly reflects the stew of sound that we encounter on an average day of listening in the aftermath of the blog era. I just googled his name and apparently it references a Kabbalistic character that is the primal soul of all mankind. Good starting point. Teslaphonics is hip hop with all its circuits bent, but not to the point that your ears get overloaded. This is lo-fi, scratchy like vinyl and full of strange tones that linger in the rhythm. Some sound like they are banging out of a bomb shelter symphony (Hark the Herlad), and others sound like they were heard at the Circus-Circus while Hunter Thompson was tripping on ether (Nuggets). His vocal delivery is swag enough to have the current crop of post-Kanye-rappers shaking in their vintage sneakers, and filtered through static like a transmission from earths last radio. The lyrics are poetic, drawing abstract metaphors together with sci-fi braggadocio and vivid images from some brokedown noir film. Wild lines I can decipher include: he held a sign in his hand that said spare change please / and in large bold letters GOD DONT HEAL AMPUTEES, and heavenly trumpets playing from the beaches / kids shooting up the school while they layin with their teachers, and I got a coin-operated laundry list of demands / assisted living off the skin off the palms of my hands / skin of our teeth, our lives are intentionally brief / to keep the meaning of it all insufficiently deep. Clearly you will need to think about these songs and thankfully they are engaging enough to warrant many repeat listens. This record is part of the slew of free releases from the good people at World Around Records, who are committed to developing artists that are creative, honest and personal. Adam Kadmon is, at the very least, all of the above, and this record has me wondering what strange landscapes his music will bring me through in the future. I will certainly be listening.

You can download the full record HERE and check out more great music at WorldAroundRecords.Com

New Music Review - Forest World "Super Bright Skullz" EP

Super Bright Skullz is the new EP from Provo based electropop duo Forest World. This is clearly music to dance with. The bass knocks hard, with kinetic snares that punctuate hi-hats and cowbells. Drawn out background synths hold the feeling while melodic arpeggios bounce in around the drums, amid errant 8-bit accents. The songs build up and release with extended breakdowns that riff off all the elements and create the sense of a live mix. Throughout the EP you hear all of the sounds interact in different ways that continuously re-frame the overall feeling. Both lo-fi and clean tones keep the vibe crispity crunchety in your ears. Sean and Sam share the vocals in a pleasant male/female harmony that gives a sense of dialogue to the lyrics, which seem to be heartfelt glimpses of hope and connection in the modern mundane. I love the refrain from the title track, "all of this is just as real as you can make it," spun through a dance floor crusher that I will be stoked to experience live. The track that challenged me most was 'Jodie Jensen' which is apparently an ode to a high school crush and thrusts a grip of awkward romantic attachment over a sparse beat that takes two minutes to come back from its initial despair. It does come back though, and they follow it with 'The Singularity' which is also low-key but draws me in with its story about living to age 100, only to be alone with nothing but the songs written in your youth. Overall the lyrics are emotional and real, but not overbearing, and never empty, even when distanced through distortion. This is perfect music for sweaty basement dancing, solo city cycling or making out in a car on the side of an empty mountain road.

Listen to most of the tracks at myspace.com/forestworld
or go ahead and get the hand-packaged cd at forestworldblog.blogspot.com (download is available as well)

New Music Video - Tell The Truth "Consoul"

Tell the Truth are street musicians. I have seen them on stage and in coffeeshops or bars but when I see them on the street I know they are at home. They wail out ballads that pull me into the depths of an emotive struggle for understanding the knot of reality, relations and experience. Their music is challenging - the vocals will pierce anyone's wall of cool, digging into your ears, only to apply a sensual massage once there. The guitar is passed back and forth, along with vocals that harmonize or push off of each other, building into a completely shared expression - two people as one voice that echoes through the city.


listen to more at myspace.com/tellthetruthpdx

The Start Fires Debut - Dedicate Your Growth To The World

As many who have been following the progress of my lyrical process are aware, I have been ripping up stages and inspiring dance parties as one half Start Fires for the past few years in Portland, OR. For those who don't know, we speak about personal empowerment in a world that seems hopeless though the dialect of hip hop and punk rock, accompanied by music rooted in classic electro and west coast g-funk.

We finally got a really solid recording of our work and have released the first 13 songs as a collection titled "Dedicate Your Growth to the World" - it features some of our most requested songs such as "is this living?", "things tend to happen", "internment", "i am the light", "genocide tactics", and our portland basement favorite "party at my house".

The entire album is available to listen to and download at startfires.bandcamp.com, or directly through the player above.

We have also had it professionally manufactured on CD and are releasing the discs in limited editions of 100, each hand packaged and with unique features to that edition. The first 300 copies also come with a full color 11x17 double sided poster featuring new collage art from both myself and shermstixx on either side.

You can get a copy of the CD here:
-----++++actually its now sold out(3/23/10)++++-----

or by sending me and email at DMLH-at-STARTFIRES-dot-COM.